Magnum the Bottle Shop

If you have ever read this blog on more than one occasion, it will be be strikingly apparent that I drink too much to say the least. A well made drink is just as important as having nice food in my book. At home it’s easy to find the spirits, wines, and mixers that we have all grown accustomed to having in our drinks cabinet. But here in Seoul where soju and beer are king it might be a wee bit trickier to stock your liquor cabinet with the good stuff.

While big chain supermarkets can certainly provide you with the basics, you will need to head to a bottle shop if you want a bigger selection. But most Korean bottle shops that I have come across are still pretty small. Which is why I was compelled to share this one with you, it’s absolutely huge and if they don’t have it here, it’s probably not in Korea.

One of the nicest parts of the store is the staggering wine collection. Now you probably know by now that I am not much of a wine drinker, but even I was quite impressed with the collection. And one of the nicest things is you can try before you buy. Obviously for a price, but they have those awesome machines where you can try a sip or a glass, which I think is quite necessary for wine over 20,000 a bottle.

As well as the wine they have a staggering array of spirits, although sadly no Pimm’s. But there is vodka, lots and lots of lovely vodka, gin, liqueurs, whisky, and rum.

They also have a beer selection, they aren’t cold so you’d have to take them home to refrigerate them but it’s still good to see. Though the supermarkets are generally pretty well covered on this front these days.

Aside from the booze, there is also bar equipment so if you’ve been desperately looking for a 600,000 crystal wine decanter, or a 100,000 copper mug for your Moscow Mules, you know where to find them.They also have those library stairs to help you reach the top shelves, which lets face it are totally awesome.

Lastly the staff speak English, so if you are looking for anything in particular you can call them and find out if they have it before trekking all the way across town. They also seemed to be very knowledgeable too.

Magnum the Bottle Shop is located at 120 Apgujeong-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. To get there take a train to Apgujeong station and come out of exit 5 and walk straight for about 7 blocks. Magnum is on the same road just after the turning for Garosugil. For more information you can call them on 02-512-5271 or check out their facebook page for more details.